500 
three without, and three within, which form a sort of bell-shaped flower, whence the inhabitants of 
North America gave it the title of Tulip. These petals are marked with green, yellow, and red 
spots, making a fine appearance when the trees are well charged with flowers. The time of this 
tree's flowering is in July, and when the flowers drop, the germ swells, and forms a kind of cone, 
but these do not ripen in England. 
Mr. Catesby, in his Natural History of Carolina, &c. says, there are some of these trees in 
America, which are thirty feet in circumference; that the boughs are unequal and irregular, making 
several bends or elbows, which render the trees distinguishable at a great distance, even when they 
have no leaves upon them. They are found in most parts of the northern continent of America, 
from the Cape of Florida to New England, where the timber is of great use, particularly for making 
of periaugues, the trunks of these being large enough to be hollowed into the shape of those boats, 
so they are of one piece. 
Mr. Marshall describes the Tulip tree as seventy or eighty feet in height. He mentions two 
varieties, one with yellow, and the other with white wood; the first soft and brittle, much used for 
boards and heels of shoes, also turned into bowls, trenchers, See,; the white heavy, tough and hard, 
sawed into joists, boards, &c. for building. He remarks that the flower has sometimes seven petals 
or more. 
Kalm observes, that it is very agreeable at the end of May to see one of these large trees, with 
its singular leaves, and covered for a fortnight together with flowers, which have the shape, size, and 
partly the colour of Tulips. The wood is used for canoes, whence the Swedes in North America 
call it Canoe-tree, for boards, bowls, dishes, spoons, and all sorts of joiners' work. Kalm speaks of 
having seen a barn of considerable size, the sides and roof of which were made of a single Tulip- 
tree split into boards. But there is one inconvenience attending it, for there is no wood that con¬ 
tracts and expands itself so much as this. The bark is divisible into very thin laminae, which are 
tough like bast. It is pounded, and given to horses who have the bots. The roots are supposed to 
be as efficacious in agues as Jesuit's bark. 
CULTURE . 
This tree is propagated by seeds, which are now annually imported in great plenty from Ame¬ 
rica. These may be either sown in pots or tubs filled with light earth from the kitchen garden, or 
in a bed in the full ground. Those which are sown in the first way, may be placed on a gentle 
hot-bed, which will forward their growth, so that the plants will acquire more strength before 
winter. If they are thus treated, the glasses of the hot-bed should be shaded from the sun every 
day, and the earth in the pots should be frequently refreshed with water, for unless it is kept moist, 
the seeds will not grow; but this must be done with care, so as not to make it too wet, which will 
rot the seeds. When the plants appear, they must be still shaded in the heat of the day from the 
sun, but fresh air must be admitted daily to prevent their drawing up weak, and as the season 
advances, they must be gradually hardened to bear the open air. While the plants are young, they 
do not care for much sun, so they should be either shaded or placed where the morning sun only 
shines upon them; they must also be constantly supplied with water, but not have it in too great 
plenty. As the young plants commonly continue growing late in the summer, so when there hap¬ 
pens early frosts in autumn, it often kills their tender tops, which occasions their dying down a 
considerable length in winter; therefore they should be carefully guarded against these first frosts, 
which are always more hurtful to them than harder frosts afterwards, when their shoots are better 
hardened; however, the first winter after the plants come up, it will be the better way to shelter 
